Desiree Petrich
Hi! I’m Desiree, I left my management position in Healthcare in 2021 after 10 years in the field, to follow my dream of growing myself, and helping others to develop into the person and leader they want to be. I now get to share the message of personal development, growth and leadership with those around me, to help set individuals up for success in their homes, at work and in their relationships.
I truly believe that both personal and professional success lies in our ability to create happy lives through confidence, kindness, strength, and collaboration. This helps us to overcome adversity, take risks, and lead a life we’re proud to call our own.
WHAT I DO: I help businesses and individuals prepare for opportunities, lead by example, and create self confidence in their ability to set goals and reach them. I do this through teambuilding, leadership development, group coaching and masterminds, keynote speaking, and personality assessments to help teams continue to grow as one.
WHY ME: I help individuals learn what they value about themselves, their team, and their company.
I have built myself up from the bottom in several areas of life. From losing 50 pounds in high school, and learning to maintain it, to starting as a CNA in a nursing home and working my way into a management position at a dementia facility.
I read an average of 70 books per year, and use that knowledge to help educate and add value to others who are looking for a happier life, but don’t know where to start.
I lost my mom in 2022, and found a way to maintain my healthy habits while grieving her loss, and raising a 2 year old and a 2 month old.
Jasmine Brett Stringer
Jasmine Brett Stringer is an uplifting keynote speaker, award-winning author of Seize Your Life: How to Carpe Diem Every Day, on-air TV personality, host of the podcast and lifestyle blog Carpe Diem with Jasmine and founder of Share the Mic Minnesota. In these times of transformational change, Jasmine is on a mission to help people live empowered and authentic lives. Through her Seize Your Life keynotes, workshops and customized coaching sessions, Jasmine guides clients and audiences through a simple process to identify their goals and achieve their personal definition of success. Jasmine’s common-sense approach to creating a life of one’s own has inspired thousands of people across the world to carpe diem! Jasmine has shared her positive message to corporate and nonprofit organizations such as Land O’ Lakes, Federal Reserve Bank, Airbnb, Cargill, Goodwill, Mondelēz International, Bayer, Boston Scientific, Radisson Hotel Group, NEW, the Network of Executive Women and the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Jasmine inspires revelation and change by leveraging her experiences working with some of the world’s biggest brands. Additionally, Jasmine speaks on how to effectively network and how to build synergy and develop interpersonal skills- core tools for living a vision-driven life.
The international “new awakening” to racial inequalities and social justice issues during the summer of 2020 inspired Jasmine to launch a new project, #SHARETHEMICMN. #SHARETHEMICMN was established to give Black and Brown women in Minnesota additional exposure through connection and engagement with new audiences. The goal is that the new conversations and relationships develop into a deeper understanding that will be impactful in tackling and overcoming unconscious biases, racial injustices and racial inequities. Through storytelling, relationship development, programming and collaborations #SHARETHEMICMN strives to help make Minnesota a more inclusive and equitable state. Jasmine is using the #SHARETHEMICMN platform to elevate the voices of women of color, inspire action and allyship, and show the world that a Carpe Diem spirit can drive change.
Jasmine is a graduate of American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington, D.C. She was named one of “100 People to Know in 2021” by Twin Cities Business Magazine, a Twin Cities Fearless Woman in 2017, and a Woman of Promise by the Girl Scouts in 2012. She received the 2020 Team Women Community Impact WaveMaker Award. Additionally, she was awarded Distinguished Alumna of American University and is an active member of the National Speakers Association. Ebony Magazine featured her as one of its “30 Future Leaders Under the Age of 30 in America.” Jasmine is based in Minneapolis but can often be found two hours south of the city working with her husband at the family farm. On a personal note, Jasmine is a Minnesota State Fair ribbon winner for her delicious canned sweet pickles grown with love in Blue Earth, MN.
Vineeta Sawkar
Vineeta Sawkar is a five time Emmy award-winning television anchor who is now the Director of Public Relations at the University of St. Thomas. Vineeta spent twenty-three years in the television news business. She is best known for her eighteen years at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis. She left KSTP in 2013 and pioneered a new role at the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a video host. She and her family are proud St. Paul residents. Vineeta is a former Friends of the St. Paul Public Library board member and Children’s Hospital Association board member. She is now volunteering with the Minnesota Wild to recruit more kids of color to play the sport of hockey.
Lori La Bey
Humorist, Heartfelt Stories, Practical Tools & Resources
Families and healthcare professionals are looking for the same thing when it comes to caring for those they serve. They want new, innovated way to assess and share knowledge. Lori La Bey has been recognized by Oprah as “Health Hero,” Maria Shriver as an “Architect of Change,” Dr Oz as the “#1 Influencer Online for Alzheimer’s,” and by AARP MN as a “Disruptor, Caring Creator, and Inspiring Leader.” Members of Lori’s audience benefit from her humor and heartfelt style as she:
- Delivers simple, practical tools and techniques they can easily implement,
- Provides a wide array of resources, and
- Demonstrate techniques to shift mindsets from crisis to comfort.
Been There Done That
Lori understands the lived experience of caring for others and herself. Her own family maneuvered the roller coaster of dementia with her Mother for 30 years, the journey of brain cancer with her Father, having a child almost die from Meningitis, taking in teens and adults in her home that no longer could live with their families. She knows what it’s like to be in the trenches of care: the stress, exhaustion, tug of war with family and friends, frustration of lack of access to support, knowledge, plus lack of a cure. Her healthcare background allows Lori to understand service delivery systems and how to adapt to move forward. Her marketing experience allows her to create unique strategies, create friendly onboarding processes, which provide dignity, respect, and empowerment to all involved. Lori understands we must provide a variety of platforms to engage and reach various learning styles. Some initiatives Lori has launched:
- The first, radio show dedicated to dementia and caregiving in the world,
- The first, video platform which raised the voices of people living with dementia in the world,
- The first, Dementia Friendly Community in the United States,
- Bringing the Memory Café’ concept to the United States from the United Kingdom, and
- The first global resource directory for dementia care.
- Her emotional based training to get people to feel the need to change, not just the mandate to do a job.
Caring Has No Boundaries
Lori La Bey specializes in dementia care, but her programs are easily adapted to a variety of groups as caring has no boundaries. Other prime audiences are: Hospice & Palliative Care, Loss and Grief, Conscious Compassionate Selfcare, Divorce, Bullying, Empowerment and Well Being, Cancer and Other Terminal Illnesses, Struggling Teens, Ageism, Economical and Simple Culture Adjustments, Living with Purpose, Marketing to Be Remembered, Caregiving and more. Lori presents to patients, families, and professionals and can easily adapt to be inclusive and respectful when speaking to combined audiences. She is available for keynotes, breakouts, and training programs range from an hour to multiple days.
Lori La Bey – Changing How Care Is Perceived, Received and Delivered
Ben Utecht
It is rare to find a true Renaissance man anymore, but that’s just that you get with Ben Utecht. Ben has always chased his dreams, finding his way from a small river town in Minnesota to a Super Bowl championship field. Whether it was becoming a world champion in football, singing with major symphonies, serenading Muhammad Ali on his 70th birthday, or stepping into a national advocacy role, Ben has found success in many realms. He honed his already keen public speaking skills at the University of Minnesota, where he graduated with a degree in communications and even started a master’s degree in sports management before being swept up into the NFL.
Ben has established himself as a prominent national leadership and motivational speaker for corporations, conventions, and non-profit events. Both of his programs, The Champion’s Way™ and The MVP Program™, stem from lessons he learned in the locker room with Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy and in the huddle with future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning. The Champion’s Way™ spotlights and breaks down “The 4 Ls” of leadership: listening, learning, language, and love. The MVP Program™ comes from Ben’s experience with concussions. It inspires audiences to truly care about their minds and to discover how integral memory is to identity. Both programs illuminate dynamic ways to succeed in business and life.
I believe, as a speaker, that vulnerability equals connectivity. This is why I approach my keynote presentations with a mission of bringing you on an emotional journey through my life, into a hall-of-fame huddle, and onto a field of high-impact lessons. All our lives tell a story, and this is how I tell mine!
As an influential advocate for brain health, Ben served as the national spokesperson for the American Academy of Neurology and currently sits on the prestigious board of the American Brain Foundation. Ben was given the AAN’s most esteemed honor, the Public Leadership in Neurology Award, in 2014. Also at that time, Ben released a music video for his song “You Will Always Be My Girls,” written as a love letter to his wife and daughters with the goal of emotionally connecting people to the importance of their memories. The video has impacted the lives of many, garnering over 1.3 million YouTube views to date.
Ben can now add “author” to his résumé, with the release of his new book Counting the Days While My Mind Slips Away, published by Simon & Schuster. The book is the first memoir from a former NFL player who left the game as a result of concussions. It takes the reader on a heart-felt journey through the ups and downs of Ben’s life with faith, family, and football. Ben has a message of hope that has reached a nation-wide audience, inspiring people to value every moment to its fullest.
Courtney Godfrey
Courtney Godfrey is a local TV reporter in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her job has taken her all over the country, from San Francisco to New York City. She has reported on major news events, appearing on Fox News Channel and CNN.com. She has interviewed celebrities and sports icons, and covered major events including the police death of George Floyd, the Super Bowl and multiple Kentucky Derbys.
In September 2017, she was involved in a boat accident that resulted in the amputation of her left leg. The recovery was long and painful, but not once did she lose her positivity and drive. With the support of her family, Courtney found the strength to return to all the activities she enjoyed before the accident. Four months post-amputation, Courtney was back on her snowboard. She returned to work, her favorite fitness classes and even got back in her beloved high heels.
She serves on the board of the nationally recognized amputee non-profit, Wiggle Your Toes as well as the board of the Hennepin Healthcare Foundation.
On her own time, she provides one-on-one peer support to new amputees and does frequent hospital visits. She advocates for amputee rights at the state and federal level, lobbying members of the Minnesota legislature and U.S. Congress.
She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and their son, Callan.
Roxane Battle
Roxane Battle is Vice President of Advocacy and Community at Sanvello Health, Inc., a tele-mental health company inside UnitedHealth Group Ventures. Sanvello has the #1 app for anxiety, stress and depression and provides insured behavioral healthcare to 40 million people. Roxane’s self-help video series, “Checking in with Roxane Battle,” is seen by 4 million subscribers on the Sanvello app.
Prior to coming to Sanvello, Roxane spent 20+ years as a television news anchor and Emmy-nominated reporter at NBC Minneapolis, CBS, and FOX.
As life-long public speaker Roxane uses her gift of humor and natural storytelling to help people develop personal strategies to better manage stress, build resiliency and find joy during times of transition.
Roxane was named an Architect of Change on mariashriver.com and has been featured in Working Mother and Ebony national magazines, and regularly makes podcast and television guest appearances.
A Minnesota native, Roxane earned her undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She completed her master’s degree in journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Her self-help memoir, Pockets of Joy: Deciding to Be Happy, Choosing to Be Free (Whitaker House 2017), became an Amazon Top 100 best seller in multiple categories.
She has an adult son, calls the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes home, owns a pair of roller skates and makes a mean mac and cheese.
Jean Abbott
Jean Sharon Abbott was misdiagnosed as a young child with Spastic Dipligia, a form of Cerebral Palsy. After 33 years of countless doctors visits, medical procedures, unnecessary medications and surgeries, she was correctly diagnosed with Dopa Responsive Dystonia (DRD). Jean enjoys all the adventures of her new life, but wouldn’t change the journey that brought her to where she is today. Her positive attitude is highly contagious as she encourages others to appreciate the little things in life.
Jean’s powerful story of perseverance no matter what life brings will have you laughing one minute and crying the next. Since she appeared on the Today Show, Good Housekeeping, Yahoo!, and the U.K.’s “Daily Mail”, an overwhelming number of people from around the world have contacted Jean to tell her how inspired they were by her journey from “wheels to heels”.
Casey O’Brien
Casey O’Brien, a native of St Paul, Minnesota, is a five time cancer survivor and widely recognized motivational speaker. After being diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, an extremely rare form of bone cancer, at the age of 13, his main goal in life has become inspiring others. After having the cancer relapse in both of his lungs in high school, he made varsity football debut as a Placeholder. He checked into the hospital for chemotherapy the following morning. He later walked on to play football as a Placeholder for Coach PJ Fleck and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Casey played in his first career Big 10 football game at Rutgers on October 19th, 2019. His first play and moment shared with Coach Fleck were covered by ESPN, ABC World News, The Today Show, and more. He spoke in front of a national audience at the 2019 ESPN College Football Awards Show after receiving the Disney Spirit Award for the most inspiring story in all of college football. He was the keynote speaker in front of 2,000 people at the 2019 Big 10 Media Days in Chicago, and his speech has now been viewed over 100,000 times. He looks to spread his positivity, unbelievable resiliency, and motivation to succeed to every group he speaks to.
Bob Sansevere
Who is Bob Sansevere? This veteran journalist, author and media personality, in describing himself, notes that, “I’m charismatic, wildly entertaining and remarkably insightful, and if you’re even a fraction as impressed with me as I am with myself, you’re going to love what I have to offer.”
What Bob can offer, in a style all his own, is something completely different from the usual suspects of inspirational speakers. That’s because Bob’s life work in the media has been an amazing three-plus decade journey across an American landscape of winning, losing and everything in between, from high school heroes to the Super Bowl. And the lessons he’s learned along the way on this journey have something everyone can relate to. In fact, with Bob it’s all about the journey. When Bob steps up to microphone, he has one and only one goal – to take everyone in the room on a journey. His journey will take you to towns you never heard of and places you want to go, full of everyday people and national celebrities, some funny, some sad – but all sharing the same simple message: Embrace the Journey.
Bob’s colorful narrative and stinging wit bring industrial-strength commentary to the simple things in life that often mean the most. His larger-than-life on-stage presence turns up the energy level in any room. He is an animated choreography of insight, anecdotes and chuckles – all punctuated, when you least expect it, by an incisive heartfelt wisdom that delivers a one-two inspirational punch that people are sure to carry with them long after they’ve left the room. Bob’s a powerhouse monologist of the first order, and can deliver a funny and thought-provoking speech that can engage and enrich people in your group — and inspire them to tap into their “inner winner.” Whether it leads to a significant work-related accomplishment or a life-enhancing achievement, Bob’s words will encourage your group to Embrace the Journey. Bob is a sports columnist and hosts his own digital radio show, “The BS Show.” Bob spent more than 30 years as a member of the KQRS Morning Show, the highest-rated morning show in America for much of the past two decades. Bob also has been a contributor to several TV news and sports shows. He spent eight years as a member of the Orono City Council and serves on the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose school board. And, with his wife, Mary, was a foster parent for more than 15 years. Bob has written a book entitled, “The Best Minnesota Sports Arguments.” And calling on his background as a multiple national champion in the horse show world, Bob has designed with Jostens, an internationally known jewelry company, official championship rings and pendants for two horse registries.